Share This Story!

LETTER: ‘Dunkirk’ could have been so much better

The motion picture “Dunkirk” is a success only in sound and fury, celebrating photographic technology. Sadly, it fails to convey the game-changing shock of military catastrophe victimizing the British and the French armies. It is expressed best by Winston Churchill, “We are in the midst of a disaster of the first magnitude.” A quote missing in the production but necessary to inform naïve viewers of those dark days. A revolution

The motion picture “Dunkirk” is a success only in sound and fury, celebrating photographic technology. Sadly, it fails to convey the game-changing shock of military catastrophe victimizing the British and the French armies. It is expressed best by Winston Churchill, “We are in the midst of a disaster of the first magnitude.” A quote missing in the production but necessary to inform naïve viewers of those dark days.

A revolution in warfare called blitzkrieg — lightning war — was born. The brainchild of a German named Guderian, it was designed to avoid the slaughter pens of World War I in which automatic weapons made defense king. Offensive warfare was re-invented with white-hot spearheads of concentrated armor and air power to overcome army defense.

Winning with the least effort is the essence of strategy — the blitzkrieg did that. In six weeks the blitzkrieg accomplished what four years of World War I slaughter failed to realize for either side.

German panzer divisions — armor — sliced three outflanked and rampaged across the French countryside. News of the German army reaching the Channel coast electrified the world from Washington, D.C. to Tokyo. That fever of high drama was not projected at all in the film. The quick victory appeared to be the crack of doom for Great Britain or opened the door for Hitler to move east to invade the Soviet Union.

The creators of “Dunkirk” lost the opportunity of a true blockbuster. Dunkirk, that historic event deserved the docu-drama style of the “Longest Day”, “Tora Tora Tora,” “Midway,” “A Bridge Too Far,” etc.

The format was there to follow. The real Dunkirk would have come alive. What a lost opportunity. The heroic French rear guard was never mentioned. Why were German panzer units ordered not to attack the beaches?

For 99.9 percent of viewers “Dunkirk” was, is and will remain a pile of jigsaw puzzle pieces unconnected, failing to convey the true picture of the historic event greater than the sum of its parts.

The lack of information leaves the “Dunkirk” film with no redeeming qualities except in the science and art of photography.